Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-08-26

Is no evIuence Unat the enuren ls ac sepuaoIe
to God. Better barn with Christ in the
manger than a cathedral with magnificent
harn,oriies rolling through the long drawn
aises and an angel froui'heayen in the pulpit
If there is no Christ in the chancel and no
Christ in the robes. BigoTy is often the child
OF ignorance.
You seldom find a man with large intellect
who is bigot. 1t is the lan who thinks he
knows a great deal but does not That man
is almost always bigot. Rhe whole tendency
of education and civilizs ion is to bring
man out Of that kind o state OF mind and
heart There was in the ir east great ODE.
ilsk, and one side of thr obeli;k was white,
another side of the obeliss was green, another
side of the obelisx was ne, and travellers
went and looked at that Cf slisk, but they did
not walk around it. On9 imam looked at on5
SIDE, another at another e, and they came
home, each one looliingi I only one side And
they happened to meet, story says, and
they got into rank Qua. Al about the color
of that obelisk. One MAJ said it was white,
another man said 1t was 9,een, another man
said it was blue and wheii they were in the
very heat of the controversy more intelli-
gent traveller cameand said. "Gentlemen, |
have seen that obelsk, and ynei are all right
and you are all wrong Why didn't you
walk all around the obeiisk"
Look out for the man who sees only one
oAhO VI u lOilBlCuo OluUu 1OOk Oub lOT lIlb
man who never walks around about these
great theories of God and eternity and the
dead. He will be a bigot inevitably-the
man who only sees one side. There is no
man more to be pitied than he who has in
his head just one idea-no more, no less.
More light, less sectarianisn. There is moth
ing that will so soon kill bigotry as sunshine
Gods sunshine.
II. So have set before you what con-
sider to be the causes of bigotry. Ihave set
before yon the origin of this great evil
What are some of the baleful effects! First
of all it cripples investigation. You are
wrong, and am right, and that ends it. No
taste for exploration, no spirit of investiga-
tion. From the glorious realm of Gods
truth, over which an archangel might fly
from eternity to eternity and not reach the
limit, the man shuts himself out and dies,
blind mole under a corn shock. 1t stops all
invest CATION.
While each denomination of Christians is
to present all the truths of the Bible, it seems
to me that God has given to each denomina-
tion an especial mission to give particular
emphasis to some one doctrine; and so the
Calvinistic churches must present the sover
eighty of God, and the Arminian churches
must present mans free agency, and the
| Episcopal churches must present the import
ance CO order and solemn ceremony and the
Baptist churches must present the necessity
of ordinances, and the Congreg ational church
must present the responsibility of the indi-
vidual member, and the Method church
must show what holy enthusiasm and hearty
congregational singing can accomplish.
While each denomination of Christians must
set forth all the doctrines of the Bible, feel
1t is especially incumbent upon each denomi-
nation to put particular emphasis upon some
one doctrine.
Another great damage done by the secta-
rianism and bigotry of the church is that it
disgusts people with the Christian religion.
| Now, my friends, the Church of Col was
never intended for war barrack. People
are afraid of riot. You go down the street
and you see an excitement, and missiles fly
ing through the air, and you hear the shock
of firearms. Doyou, the peaceful and in
dustrious citizen, go through that street!
"Oh, mol" you will say, I'm go around tha
block" Now, men come and look upon this
narrow path TO heaven, and sometimes see
the ecclesiastical brickbats flying every
whitber, and they say.HWell, guess I'll take
the broad road; if it is so rough, and there is
80 much sharp shooting on the narrow road,
guess I'll try the broad road y
Francis l. so hated the Lutherans that he
said if he thought there was one drop Of
| Lutheran blood in his veins he would pune
ture them and let that drop out. Just as long
as there is so much hostility between denoml-
nation and denomination, or between one
| pTOIeSSSu CDFlSUlan Ut USUWeou
one church and another, just so long men
will be disguised with the Christian religion
and say: IF that is religion l want none OF
it.n
Again, bigotry and sectarianism do great
damage in the fact that they hinder the tri-
umph of the Gospel Oh, how much wasted
ammunition how many men of splendid in
te!lect have given their whole life to contro-
versial disputes, when, if they had given
their life to something practical, they might
have been vastly useful! Suppose this morn
ing, while | speak, there were a common en-
emy coming up the bay through the NarrowS,
and all the forts arouud New York began to
fire into each other-you would cry out,
National suicide! Why don't those forts
blaze away in one direction, and that against
the common enemyp And yet l sometimes
see in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ a
strange thing going on-church against
church, minister against minister, denomlna'
tion against denomination, firing away into
their own fort, or the fort which ought
to be on the same side, instead of concentrat
ing their energy and giving one mighty and
everlasting volley against the navies of dark
ness riding up through the bay
| go out sometimes in the summer, and
find two beehives, and these two hives are IL
quarrel. | come near enough, not to bt
stung, but | come just near enough to heal
the controversy, and one beehive says "Tha
other BEEHIVE says: THAT field O
clover is the sweetest" l come in be
tween them, and l say: "Stop this quarrel: i
you'll like that field of clover best, go there; i
you like that field of clover best, go there
but let me tell you that that hive which get
the most honey is the best hive" So | com,
out between the churches of the Lord Jesu
Christ. One denomination of Christians
says "That field of Christian doctrine i
best" and another says " This field of Chris
tian doctrine is best" Well, I say &C,
where you get the most honey" That is tn
best church which gets the most honey o
Christian grace for the heart and the mos
honey of Christian usefulness for the life.
Besides that If you want to build up an.
denomination. you will never build it up b,
trying to pull some other down. Intoleranc
never put anything down. How much ina
intolerance accomplished, for instance
against the Methodist Church, For lon
years her ministry were forbidden the pul
pits IF Great Britain. Why was it that S
many of them preached in the fieldsl Sim
ply because they could not get into th
churches. And the name of the church wa
! given in derision and as a sarcasm. The crf
I les Of the church said: "They have no order
they have no met cd in. their Worship an
the critics. therefore; in irony called ther
"Methodists."
] An told that IN Astor library. New Yori
, kept as curiositl.s, there are 707 books an
, pamphlets against Methodism Did intolcr
: ance stop that church? No; it is either firs
> or second amid the denominations of Chris
) tendon, her missionary stations in all part
of the world, her men not only important i
, religious trusts, but important also il
8 secular trusts Church marching on, ant
l the more intolerance againstit, the faster l
9 marches
? What did intolerance accomplish agains
! the Baptist Church! If laughing scorn an
| TRADE could have DESTROYED the church
{ would not to day have a dis, ,iple left.
The Baptists were hurled out Of Boston /
l the olden times Those who sympathize
a with thau, ,yara non fined and whom a natitiO